


Underneath the Same Big Sky

by cinnamont



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Astronauts, M/M, NASA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-10-29 03:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10845369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamont/pseuds/cinnamont
Summary: Written for the Klaine Prompt Reverse Bang. Kurt is an astronaut going on a mission to the International Space Station and this is how Blaine deals with his husband going to space!





	1. Chapter 1: Road to Kazakhstan

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the KPRB mods for organizing this Bang and giving us new fic and art to fangirl over. Check out [prompt-a-klainefic.tumblr.com](http://prompt-a-klainefic.tumblr.com/) for more great klaine fic prompts... and maybe fill one :D
> 
> Thanks to the anon who prompted this fun idea. See the Notes at the end of the fic for the Prompt that inspired the art and the story.
> 
> My gratitude to Heather, my beta, for her patience dealing with my delinquency and constant changes.
> 
> And how great is quizasvivamos for her artwork! Send her love and appreciation at her [tumblr](http://quizasvivamos.tumblr.com/). Tell her how amazing she is in the comments!!

  
Art by phenomenally talented [quizasvivmos](http://quizasvivmos.tumblr.com/)

"Yes, Mom, I've got the scarf," Blaine responded automatically over the Bluetooth earpiece, barely paying attention to what he was saying. His mind was actually on picking out which toiletries he wanted to take with him even though he was only going to be gone for a few days. And besides Kurt had already decided on the scarf he was going to be wearing, and it was most definitely not going to be the one dotted with the little saucer spaceships that Pam Anderson had sent him. Gift or no gift, Kurt Hummel did not do tacky - not on Earth or in outer space. It was in that moment, Blaine caught his own eye in the bathroom mirror.

Kurt was going to space! His husband, Kurt Hummel-Anderson, was an astronaut and he was going into space!

He sucked in a breath and his heart thudded against his rib cage. This was really happening. All the years of work, training and sacrifice had led to this moment. From that fateful day that changed the trajectory of both their lives, the day they went to visit Brittany at MIT. Blaine had been doing his best to follow Britt's wild explanation of the theoretical equations she was working on that somehow sounded more like a mash-up of Candy Land and Candy Crush to him.

That was when Kurt met Hiawang.

The engineer was singing off key to _Sweeney Todd_. They bonded over the _Worst Pies in London_ and a pressure carburetor, bringing Kurt back to his days in his dad's garage. They exchanged phone numbers and texted each other with such frequency that Blaine started to feel like it was Chandler all over again. When he woke up one night to Kurt sneaking off to the bathroom for over a half an hour, Blaine couldn't take it anymore and burst in on him. The last thing he expected was to find Kurt pouring over a technical manual like it was porn. That led to a confession that his sketchbook was now filled with more diagrams and schematics than fashion designs. It was getting so bad that his grades were slipping.

"Kurt, why are you hiding this? It's not like you're doing something wrong," Blaine had asked at the time.

Yet Kurt was the picture of guilt. Finally he said, "Because I love theater. I've always loved the theater. It's all I ever wanted to do!"

Blaine saw then that it wasn't his love for Blaine that Kurt was cheating on, but his love of performing. "Wait, what are you saying? Are you saying you want to be a mechanic?"

Kurt snorted. "God, wouldn't Dad just love that? He'd never let me live it down!"

This reminded Blaine of the time when he suggested a career change of his own - into medicine but Kurt saw right through that and knew that what he really was was scared. Kurt was the one scared now but Blaine wasn't so sure it was for the same reason.

"You've worked in Burt's garage for years, why the sudden interest now?"

His husband fidgeted the manual in his hands. "Kurt!" Blaine prompted him.

"NASA hires mechanical engineers," Kurt blurted out.

"NASA?!" Once again, Kurt threw him for a loop.

"I watched all the shuttle launches with Dad. My Power Rangers had a secret base on the moon!" Kurt was talking a mile a minute. "But it's crazy, right? I'm already enrolled in NYADA. God— after all I had to do to just get in! It would be insane to change… it's way too late to apply to those colleges… I'm taking all the wrong classes… the best engineering colleges aren't even in New York—"

"Kurt, stop!" Blaine cut in. Kurt was starting to freak out and that last part rocked him back on his heels. If they were seriously considering this, it meant changing… everything.

"You're right, it's crazy! It's insane!" Kurt shut the manual and crumpled it in his fists.

"It's not crazy," Blaine countered, "not if it's what you really care about."

Kurt shook his head still overwhelmed by the enormity of what they were talking about. "It would mean… Ugh, the money—!"

"Stop! Just… look, never mind about that right now. We'll worry about the how later. The question you have to answer is: is this what you want to do?"

Kurt had never looked so lost and torn.

"Does it make you come alive? Does it fire your imagination? Does it drive you out of your mind but you wouldn't give it up for anything? Does it challenge you… so much that it scares you? Is it the thing you would regret the rest of your life if you didn't do it?"

He could see his words sinking in and as they did Kurt calmed. Blaine thought that Kurt was coming to a decision even if he wasn't ready to say it out loud yet.

"Do you think you're any good at it?"

And that got an immediate response. Kurt arched an imperial eyebrow as if to say 'you did not just ask me that?' As if Blaine had the nerve to ask if he could hit a high F and Blaine couldn't stop the laugh. That was his Kurt.

Kurt grinned ruefully though it faded quickly. "Even if by some miracle I could get into a college that would get me into the space program, that's not going to be New York…" Worry and guilt were in his blue-green-gray eyes. "That's not what we dreamed of… it's not what you signed up for."

No, it wasn't, Blaine had to admit but his smile softened and he held out his hand to Kurt, palm up. "What I signed up for was a life with you… even though you still zig when I think you're going to zag. And I still love that about you."

Kurt's chin wrinkled up as he pressed his lips tightly together, emotion welling up in his eyes. He slid his hand into Blaine's.

And that was how Blaine found himself in an apartment in Houston, Texas. Once Kurt Hummel put his mind to something, nothing could stop him. He transferred from NYADA to NYU taking science and math classes while he applied to all the top schools with engineering departments and eventually getting accepted to CalTech.

Blaine assured Kurt he could study music anywhere and as it turned out, California was a good place to do it. He met fellow student Lil Hardin and they soon became writing partners. They stayed in touch even after moving to Houston so Kurt could begin his astronaut training. They were making a name for themselves writing jingles for commercials. They still wanted to write songs but it was a start and in the meantime Blaine had gotten a job as music director for a private school for elementary grades and he loved it. He loved introducing kids to the joy of singing and banging and making noise with instruments and then slowly fine tuning that enthusiasm into actual playing of notes and then songs. And he was good at it.

This might not have been the life he and Kurt had dreamed of back in Ohio but he had no regrets. He loved his life and that was why he was stupidly grinning at himself in their bathroom mirror…

…while his mother's voice was growing ever more hysterical in his ear. "What?" Blaine had to repeat a couple of times before he caught up to what she was saying. "What?! No! Mom, I am not going to be kidnapped… Yes, sometimes people get held for ransom… Those hikers?… I'm pretty sure that was Uzbekistan. Mom, I'm going to the launch site of the Soyuz rockets, they are going to have security there… Okay, I promise I'll be careful… I have to go, Mom, my Uber's here. I'll text you as soon as I'm there, okay? I love you, Mom. Bye.”

He felt only marginally guilty for fibbing but, honestly, he had to finish packing and he just couldn't deal with that special Anderson brand of crazy right now.

*

So, of course, he should have known that he couldn't escape that easy. Cooper called on his way to the airport. It was just as well, he had already annoyed the driver by answering the question of Where to? with "Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan."

" _Four, three, two, one, earth below us, drifting falling, floating weightless, calling calling hooommmee_ ," Cooper sang and Blaine had to laugh. "Hey, Squirt, when's the blast off?"

"Not for a few more days." Blaine was enjoying Cooper's enthusiasm which for once was not directed at himself. "It's going to take two days just to get there and then there's a couple of days of ceremonies and press—"

"I'm not talking about that blast off," Cooper scoffed dismissively. "I mean the Big Blast Off! The conjugal visit!" Blaine started to sputter but Cooper just went blithely on, "That's why they set you up in the hotel, right? It's only fair, he's going to be gone for six months."

"Four," Blaine choked, choosing to ignore the rest of it.

"The website said six."

Blaine held back from pinching the bridge of his nose and tried to inject sanity back into the call by patiently explaining, "Missions can be anywhere between two to six months. Kurt will be the flight engineer for the next four months."

"Still, that's a looonnngg time," Cooper opined. "Even convicts are allowed to get their humpty on."

"We are not having prison sex!" Blaine shouted and then wanted to sink into the back seat when the driver shot him a look. Before Cooper could say anything more, Blaine hissed, "I'm not having this conversation."

"Aw, come on, you gotta. It's one small squirt for man, one giant Hummel-hummer for Mankind—"

"I'm hanging up!" His face burning, Blaine jabbed the disconnect button. Why couldn't he have a normal family?

*

By the time he got to the airport, Blaine had gotten his composure back and was cheerfully telling the check-in lady that he was going to the Kazakh steppes to see his astronaut husband take off for the International Space Station. And, yeah, he was pretty sure he was going to do this at all five airports he had to travel through to get there, he was so crazy proud of Kurt!

Just then his phone pinged an incoming text. If Cooper thought Blaine was going to let him ride him, he had another thing coming but the text was from Sam.

"How is it the two comic con geeks are NOT the ones going to space????? Kurt can't even sit thru a Star Wars movie!!!!!!"

Blaine chuckled and typed out his reply, "I guess you don't have to watch Jedis when you train to be one"

"UR NOT JEDI IF NO LIGHTSABER!!!!!!!!!!" Blaine's laugh was louder than he meant it to be while in a public space. He could practically hear Sam's indignation. "Why he not build one?!?!? He's an engineer" That had been Sam's instant thought when they told him of Kurt's change of vocation, he demanded Kurt build a lightsaber and was holding a grudge that he hadn't done so.

"How are you guys going to talk? Do they have cell service up there?" Sam wanted to know.

"Actually he can call my phone and we can email and Skype," Blaine told him.

"Awesome!" Sam sent back. "So you can get cyber-lucky then" Blaine frowned at his screen. "How do you masturbate in zero g? Oh man little balls of jizz floating around!!!"

"SAM" Blaine had never typed so fast. He held the phone against his chest while he glanced around to make sure there were no kids sitting next to him in the passenger lounge.

"Wat? U know some1s done it b4. U guys can't be the first ones to join the mile high club oh wait, it's way more than a mile how high is it? Oh maybe u be the first gays to boldly go where no gays have cum before."

Oh my God, why was everyone he knew a pervert? Blaine started to type out a furious response when it hit him. "Cooper put you up to this, didn't he?!"

There wasn't an answer and Blaine didn't need one to know that somewhere in Lima, Ohio, Sam Evans was laughing himself silly.

"I HATE YOU BOTH"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blaine's writing partner, Lil Hardin, is named for Louis Armstrong's wife, a musician and songwriter in her own right.


	2. If It's Good Enough For Yuri...

By the time Blaine arrived at Domodedovo Airport he was wishing he had spent the extra money and bought the ticket for the direct flight from Houston to Moscow. The Houston to Philadelphia to London to Moscow connection had left him wiped out despite the overnight layover in Philly. So much for economizing, he probably spent that much in meals along the way. Next time he'd know better.

At least, he'd get another night's sleep before the final leg of his journey began and this part was entirely arranged by Roscosmos, Russia's NASA. A car would pick up the astronauts' families and take them to Star City where the cosmonauts trained, where Kurt trained once he had been selected for this mission. They had their own private airport, a small passenger jet would fly them to another private airport just outside Baikonur, Kazakhstan, a town built solely to house the Cosmodrome's workers and their families.

Blaine's first impression as he looked out of the plane's tiny window, was the endless miles of flat, treeless scrub desert. It made sense, of course, you wouldn't want to launch rockets with tons of flammable fuel onboard in the middle of very burnable vegetation.

Baikonur was a little town nestled into a bend in the Syr Darya river and was like any little town with its residential neighborhoods, stores, cafes, and parks and tree-lined promenades except it was like driving into the Twilight Zone and emerging into 1950s Soviet Union. The architecture was straight out of a documentary film. For some reason Soviet communists loved huge blocky unadorned slabs of concrete and everything they made came out looking like that. Blaine guessed that it was suppose to exude utilitarian strength, but he was willing to bet that it made Kurt desperate to give the whole town a makeover. He chuckled to himself.

Next to him in the back of the black sedan was Naoko Onishi, wife of the Japanese astronaut going up with Kurt. On her lap was five year old Mamoru who was still fussing in that way kids did went they were tired and needed to sleep but stubbornly remained awake. Blaine had done his best to amuse Mamoru on the flight by singing to him and drumming out songs with his hands. Naoko only spoke broken English which was still better than Blaine's Japanese, nevertheless Naoko managed to convey her gratitude. Blaine wondered if this would be him bringing his son or daughter to Kurt's launch one day? The thought clenched at his heart.

They were pulling up to the main entrance of the Cosmonaut Hotel. It was more modern in that it looked like it was from the 1970s, still unadorned concrete but with bright blue balcony railings. Blaine texted Kurt when they landed and apparently he was watching for him because as soon as Blaine opened the door, he stepped straight into Kurt's arms. They clung together even though it was only a couple weeks since they last saw each other. Kurt was gone far longer when he was training to learn everything about the Soyuz capsule that would take him up to the space station. Still there was a sense of urgency now as they anticipated the coming separation and try as hard as he could Blaine could not completely hide his anxiety. He knew these flights were a routine thing, done hundreds of times without incident but seriously, his husband was about to strap himself to a rocket and blast off the planet. How was he supposed to not worry at least a little bit?

Kurt seemed to understand and kept Blaine locked in a tight grip until Blaine laughed ruefully. He pulled back and they grinned dopily at each other like they were teenagers again. But they were brought back to reality all too soon and introductions with the Onishis were officially made and a promise exchanged to have dinner tomorrow.

With Blaine by the hand, Kurt led him down the plain white-paneled hall to his room. The wooden door had names scrawled in black ink all over it. At Blaine's questioning look, Kurt explained, "It's tradition to sign the door the morning of the launch, I'll be doing it the day after tomorrow."

As Kurt unlocked the door to let them in, Blaine asked, "What do they do with it when it's filled up?"

Kurt shrugged. "I suppose they take it to the museum at the Cosmodrome."

The room wasn't very large but it was neat and clean, about what you might expect at a Holiday Inn. Blaine didn't bother to unpack, just setting his suitcase next to the dresser and bringing his carry-on to the night stand. He and Kurt laid side-by-side on top of the patterned bedspread, their fingers playing with each other's. Blaine's eyes drank Kurt in. "Um, what happened to your hair?"

Kurt flushed and brushed a hand over the sideburns and around the back of his head and grimaced, "Ugh, I told them to only take a little off the side. It's a tradition. Everyone going up has to have a haircut two days before the launch. If you don't, it's like you're jinxing the mission. Anyone who thinks scientists are only about the rational and not the superstition have never met a space crew. It's awful."

"No, no," Blaine reassured. "It's just shorter than you usually have it. It doesn't look bad and it will grow back out quickly."

"You're just saying that to spare my feelings," Kurt complained.

"I am not," Blaine protested and then teased, "although it maybe the jumpsuit talking. You know how much I'm partial to it. Is that why you're wearing it now."

Blaine made it clear on multiple occasions how much he liked the NASA blue jumpsuit.

Kurt smirked in remembrance. "We spent the day with the press, lots of photos." He asked Blaine about his trip and heard all about each of the layovers.

"I don't understand how sitting on a plane for hours at a time can make you so tired."

"Aw, honey," and Kurt rubbed his thumb across the bumps of Blaine's knuckles.

Now that he wasn't moving anymore, a heaviness was coming over Blaine but he roused himself enough to pull his phone from his pants pocket. He unlocked it and call up the photos. He held it up for Kurt to see.

"The kids at school made artwork about your launch." Blaine smiled fondly as he swiped through the many colored construction papers taped to the school hallways. Kurt chuckled. "They threw me a going away party." The pictures included a space shuttle-shaped cake.

"Do they know the shuttle's been retired?"

Blaine nudged Kurt. "They're grade school." Blaine played the video next and Kurt laughed out loud. "Aww, they're singing _Rocket Man_!"

Kurt insisted on watching it again, singing along. Afterward Kurt tugged Blaine next to him so they were cheek to cheek, he held out the phone and recorded a thank you message for Blaine's students.

"I got you something," Blaine told Kurt who quirked an eyebrow, "but I want you to take it with you up to the space station."

"Sweetie," Kurt tried to let Blaine down gently, "the Soyuz is tiny and we are going to be jam-packed inside with all the cargo we're taking with us. They only let us take a few personal items and plus they have a strict weight limit because of fuel consumption..."

"I know, Kurt, it's small." Blaine set his phone aside and shuffled through his carry-on bag until he found what he was looking for. He held out a small black box.

"Oh my God, Blaine, you did not make me another gum-wrapper ring?" Kurt laughed even though the box was slightly larger than a ring box. "Because I've already said yes to you."

"No, silly," Blaine made a face at his husband. "I wanted you to take this with you. It's not very big," Blaine said hopefully.

Kurt placed a hand over Blaine's that held the box and kissed him. "I can probably sneak that on. Why not? If we can take a toy with us, I should be able to take this."

"A toy?" Blaine repeated.

"Yeah," Kurt replied. "Each mission, an astronaut brings a small toy, a stuffed animal, kind of like hanging fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror. It's for luck and it also tells us when we hit zero gravity when it starts to float. Tokohiro is the one bringing it, one of his son's."

Blaine gasped. "That was what Naoko was trying to say!" he suddenly realized. "She showed it to me. Hantama-kun," he pronounced carefully. "Looks like a boiled egg with an Uncle Sam's hat." Kurt chortled. "Well, it does."

"I'll see for myself on launch day." Kurt shrugged. "So what did you get me—"

"Don't!" Blaine stopped Kurt from opening the box. "It's a surprise! I don't want you to open it until you are on the space station."

"Okay, now, I really am curious," Kurt pouted. It was cruel to give him a present and then tell him not to open it. He loved surprises but only if he could have them right away. Kurt hated waiting. But this was clearly one of Blaine's productions which ranged from little thoughtful gestures that said 'I'm thinking of you' to his trademarked over-the-top extravaganzas so, of course, Kurt gave in. "Alright, I promise I won't open it."

Blaine smiled and Kurt put the box onto the nightstand for safe-keeping. When he rolled back, he murmured, "Come here."

He wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist to pull his husband tightly to him and they traded several light kisses. Just as he move to deepen them, Blaine let out a soft snore.

Kurt pulled back to glare at Blaine. "Seriously!" he huffed. But Blaine looked so much like an exhausted puppy sleeping there that Kurt's annoyance melted away and he tucked Blaine's head under his chin and closed his own eyes.

The next day was filled with time-honored traditions that dated back to Yuri Gagarin's first flight. After breakfast, the cosmonauts and their families were walked over to Cosmonaut's Avenue behind the hotel where they each planted a sapling. Georgy Berezovoy was their pilot and this was his fourth mission so he watered the tree he already planted and was growing strong. Soon it would join the mature trees of cosmonauts of years past. It made Blaine proud to know that Kurt's tree would now always be among them, living on even after they were gone. It might not be the kind of fame they dreamed of as kids but Blaine thought it was more enduring.

Later they had an early dinner with Georgy and the Onishis. Georgy's wife was home taking care of her ailing mother. He regaled them with stories of his earlier missions. When Hiro and Georgy exchanged tales of their children, Kurt and Blaine shared a look that silently promised that this would be them one day.

Afterward they sat down for another tradition, watching the 1969 cult film White Sun of the Desert, an adventure in the Caspian Sea during the Russian Civil War, a sort of Soviet version of a western.

"Is this something else Yuri did?" Blaine whispered to Kurt who shook his head.

"This started later," Kurt whispered back. "Same with the priests." When Blaine gave him a quizzical look, he explained, "Russian Orthodox priests come out to bless the rocket and the crew. They wouldn't have done that in the Soviet era."

"What else will you have to do?" Blaine was curious now.

"Before the launch, when we suit up, they spin us around in a swivel chair. We'll be pulling some hard G's during liftoff and it makes some people sick. So they try to inure us by spinning us."

"And that works?"

"Highly doubtful," Kurt chuckled. "It's the most unscientific part of this mission— wait, I take that back, peeing on the tire is the most unscientific thing."

"I'm sorry, what?" Blaine gaped at Kurt.

"This is something that Yuri _did_ do." He shook his head, he still couldn't believe he had to do this. "On the bus out to the rocket, he had to relieve himself - on the back right tire. So now every cosmonaut has to do the same thing... on the back right tire. Even the women, except they pee in a cup and pour it on."

Aghast, Blaine exclaimed, "He didn't think to go before?"

"He probably did but it was the first manned flight. I'm sure there were a lot of delays."

"Do you think—"

Kurt didn't need to hear the rest of the question. "Oh no, honey, this isn't NASA who will delay a launch at the change of a breeze. These are Russians! The sun will have to explode for them to stop a countdown."

After the movie, Kurt and Blaine walked hand-in-hand back to the wing that housed Kurt's room. They were met by officials in black suits. Kurt sighed and turned to Blaine. "They're here to take you to your room. I have to go into quarantine," Kurt said.

Of course! Of course, Blaine had been told astronauts go into quarantine before the launch; nobody wanted them to be sick up in space. It was just that Blaine had forgotten and they only had the one night; he wasn't ready for this to be the last moment he could touch Kurt.

"Now?" Blaine protested. "But we..." He glanced at the men waiting to separate them who, at least, had the courtesy to look away as if suddenly interested in something in the opposite direction. Blaine leaned in to Kurt, lowering his voice. "We didn't... I mean... I fell asleep! I... we..."

"Didn't get to have prison sex?" Kurt supplied helpfully.

Blaine glared at Kurt who was suppressing mirth. "Cooper!" And Kurt burst out laughing. Blaine smacked him in the arm. "This isn't funny!"

"Don't worry, honey," Kurt whispered conspiratorially. "They have a compartment up there for, you know, cybersex."

"Shut up! I hate you all!" Blaine pouted. Then he realized that these were going to be the last words he said to Kurt before the launch and instantly regretted them. He threw his arms around Kurt. "No, I don't! I love you."

Kurt wrapped his husband up tightly, still chuckling though. "You big goof, I love you too."

"This isn't how I wanted to say goodbye," Blaine complained, unwilling to let go.

"We don't say goodbye, remember?" Kurt told him firmly and Blaine smiled into Kurt's shoulder.

Blaine pulled back just enough to look into his husband's eyes. "You really are the most amazing person I've ever met."

"You've always been there for me," Kurt's voice thickened with emotion. This conversation threatened to become far too intimate for where they were so they kissed one last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Astronaut and families' names are derived from real life astronauts.
> 
> [Hantama-kun](https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F5c%2Fcc%2F44%2F5ccc449082185c9189926efee927b77f.jpg&f=1) is a real Japanese mascot of Hunter Mountain Shiobara in Tochigi.
> 
> All pre-flight traditions are real but I fudged the timeline. Astronauts go into quarantine about a week and a half before launch and would already be there when families arrive. I wanted Kurt and Blaine to have a little personal time, sue me (no don't sue me).


	3. Ghosting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaine struggles with Kurt's absence.

From the observation area Blaine stood with the other friends and families and guests. Two hours ago, Kurt and the two other cosmonauts had boarded the Soyuz capsule and we're now waiting for the final countdown. Blaine's heart hammered in his chest. He knew every part of the launch sequence from Kurt's explanations and from watching YouTube videos.

" _T minus thirty-five seconds_ ," came the English translation over the PA system.

Several miles away the Soyuz rocket stood upright on the launch pad. It was a tall slim column of white, the capsule encased inside the nose assembly and crowned with the escape tower that deceptively looked like it might be an extra large antenna except that it had its own thrusters powerful enough to blast the crew compartment to safety in case of a catastrophic failure.

Surrounding and supporting the rocket were metal struts. The tallest, the first umbilical tower detached and dropped back. The smaller second umbilical tower followed at T minus fifteen seconds. A hushed quiet and then a flash of light at the bottom signaled engine ignition. Great clouds billowed up from underneath as the engine ramped up to maximum thrust. Simultaneously the four support struts fell back and the rocket lifted up off the earth and at first seemed to move up slowly but within seconds was high into the sky. From miles away the rockets roar was deafening.

" _And liftoff. We have liftoff of Georgy Berezovoy, Kurt Hummel-Anderson and Tokohiro Onishi on Expedition 82, on their way to the International Space Station._ "

Blaine's heart was in his throat as if it too were trying to escape earth's gravity and follow Kurt up into space. His hand came up to his mouth. He was shaking as he watched the blaze of rocket fuel streaking higher and higher until it faded away into the overcast sky.

Those feelings were still fresh as Blaine narrated, "Two minutes into the flight, the escape tower and the four side booster rockets are jettisoned. Then the outer casing surrounding the Soyuz capsule are ejected. Three minutes later the second stage engines ignite and the first stage falls away. Nine minutes after takeoff, they reach orbit and the second stage falls away. The antennae and solar panels deploy. Six hours from Earth to docking with the space station. I spent more time in flight just getting back to the States."

His orchestra kids were gathered around Blaine's laptop watching the video spanning the entire spectrum from awe to boredom.

"This is Kurt's room on the space station," Blaine told his colleagues in the teacher's lounge. The video was already in his email inbox by the time he got home. Kurt panned the camera across the tiny compartment about the size of a closet with a sleeping bag attached to one wall and a bank of computers on the other. Everything was stored by Velcro-ing it to the walls.

Blaine swiped his finger across his phone screen. "And this is Kurt and Hiro and Georgy and the engineers and ground crew in front of a mural painted on the back wall of the hotel." The woman, whose name Blaine didn't even know, she just happened to be standing next to him in the line at Starbucks, gave all the appropriate oohs and aaahs.

"And this is a relief sculpture at the Cosmodrome Museum."

The teenage boy working the cash register at the grocery store peered closer at Blaine's upheld phone. "Wow, that's pretty cool. So, like, he's up in space right now?"

"Yes," Blaine beamed.

That night, Blaine set the final touches to the dining table. He even lit a candle. In Kurt's place, Blaine had his laptop setup and ready for their Skype date. It was late into the evening so they could sync this up to Kurt's evening meal on the station. Of course, Kurt's food all looked like frozen packaged dinners heated up in a microwave which was pretty close to the truth.

They laughed at how Kurt's hair stood up without any product and Kurt did what every visitor to space did, squeezing out globs of water to float in the air before swallowing it up. They told each other about their days until the end of the meal when Kurt's patience finally ran out.

"So can I open my surprise now?" Kurt demanded.

Blaine almost asked what he was talking about when Kurt held up the box Blaine gave him. He laughed in astonishment. "I thought you would have opened it as soon as you arrived."

"I was going to," Kurt admitted, "but I wanted to do it with you since you went to so much trouble."

Blaine chuckled. "It wasn't that much trouble. I'm surprised you didn't recognize the box." Kurt frowned at him. "Open it."

Intensely curious, Kurt cracked open the lid and lifted it up. He let out an exclamation. Giving Blaine a meaningful look through the camera, he pulled out his surprise. "My hippo brooch!"

Blaine grinned broadly at Kurt's delight. "You never let a dress code stop you from expressing that Hummel flare on earth so why should outer space be any different."

For two years, Kurt had bitterly complained about the Polo shirts that were the astronauts casual wear. Now he was pinning his hippo head to his white polo. "I wore this my first day to Dalton."

"I remember," Blaine smiled fondly.

"How do you not rule the Hallmark empire?" Kurt smirked. "You are the most thoughtful, kindest, sweetest husband to ever husband!" He reached over to the camera and planted a resounding kiss. "Mwah! That's until I can get my hands on you in person!"

Blaine laughed happily.

*

The days quickly settled into a routine of waking up by sliding his hand over to Kurt's empty side of the bed and pushing down that twinge of missing him. He still observed Kurt's time in the bathroom in the morning, only now he was the one to start the coffee. All the times Blaine reached for his phone to send Kurt a text but had to stop himself. The echo of Kurt's voice miffed at him for not taking out the garbage. Whimsically setting a place at the table for Kurt and telling him about his day. Still sitting on his side of the couch to watch their shows. Running his hand across Kurt's pillow before falling asleep, whispering to Kurt he loved him and wishing him sweet dreams.

Days stretched into weeks while Blaine tried to dismiss the growing sense of unease, telling himself that he was just missing Kurt. But Kurt had been gone before, something was different somehow. Before, Kurt may have been far away but he was still here on earth... and now he wasn't. Rationally that shouldn't make a difference but that wasn't what Blaine's heart was telling him.

Once again, Blaine was setting out Kurt's plate at his place at the table even though this little gesture stopped being amusing and was starting to be disturbing yet he couldn't bring himself to stop doing it. Emily Post may have dictated that the knife and spoon belong on the right side of the plate but Kurt thought it ridiculous because you had to switch the knife to the left hand. So here was Blaine setting the knife on the left side and the fork and spoon on the right when his hand suddenly jerked away. He hit the hand-painted vase sending it spinning across the table and crashing to the floor, shattering.

Oh God, Kurt was going to be furious. That was his favorite that he picked up at the flea market, a keepsake from their New York days. It was so not replaceable. His mind was in a panic, what was he going to do? Then his mind told him to calm down, Kurt wasn't even here— he wasn't... and he was still... what the hell was he doing?!

Like a dam bursting open, a wave of emotion punched him in the gut and Blaine stumbled back and ended up on the floor. He gasped for air that didn't come. He was panicking, he needed to... he needed Kurt... Kurt wasn't here! Oh God!

Blaine scrambled for his phone and hit a contact. When a voice answered on the other end, Blaine was babbling out words he was pretty sure we're incoherent if he could actually hear what he was saying. He heard his name being called out but his brain still wasn't processing words.

By the time there was a loud banging on the front door, Blaine had calmed down, now he was just sitting there, numb. More out of muscle memory than conscious thought, he got up and answered the door.

Barbara Jean was there and she looked him up and down. "You're a mess," she pronounced. "Good thing I brought reinforcements." She held up a bottle in one hand and a plastic grocery bag in the other. "Jim Beam and Ben&Jerry."

Barbara Jean strode in without being invited. Blaine started to apologize but she cut him off. "Don't even, dummy."

Blaine had met her at spin class and they became instant friends when she told the guy with the tragic Bieber haircut in the row behind Blaine to stop staring at his ass. She reminded him of Santana. She had that queen bitch bluntness but thankfully minus the Lima Heights Adjacent psycho.

"So what happened?" Barbara Jean asked standing in the living room looking around as if she expected to find wreckage.

"I broke Kurt's vase," he said lamely, suddenly feeling like a five year old.

Barbara Jean pinned him with a glare. "And that's why I got a 911 call from you? Horse feathers! Go sit down before you fall down."

Blaine obediently dropped onto the couch cushions while Barbara Jean when to the table to collect the glasses and spoons. The two place settings did not escape her notice.

She came round to the sofa to join Blaine. "You expecting company—? Oh my God, Blaine, you did not—"

"No! That's for Kurt!"

"Oh, darling," the blonde shook her head, "you are too precious for words. Let's try this again, what happened?"

She open the bourbon and poured out a generous portion into both glasses. Blaine covered his face with his hands in embarrassment then ran them through his hair. "I don't know, it's so stupid. I don't know what I'm doing. I was just setting the table for dinner and I broke the vase and I was on the floor having a panic attack. I don't even know why."

Barbara Jean huffed. "I bet you do, Dapper Dan. You're just afraid I'll judge you for it. Darling, this is the South, we have 5th generation crazy here. Our crazy comes with a pedigree and monogrammed towels. What have you got to top that, Yankee Doodle?" She handed him a glass.

Blaine smiled weakly. "I broke the vase and I thought Kurt is going to kill me. Then I thought he... he isn't even here... and... I've been going around acting like he's going to come through the door any minute and he's not! And I thought—! How could I do that?! Right now, when he's up there and so many things could go wrong! He still has the landing and—"

"Blaine!" Barbara Jean cut him off because he was working himself back into a panic again. "Good Lord, darling, drink!" Blaine took a breath and then a sip, coughing as the alcohol burned his throat. "This isn't 'step on a crack, break your mother's back', Blaine. Thinking something could happen to Kurt isn't going to jinx him."

She leaned back in the couch, hoping if she relaxed so would he. "I did the same thing once. Three weeks after we got back from our honeymoon, I got a call from the hospital saying Jackson was in an accident. He only had a broken nose from the airbag but I flipped out just the same. And Jackson's a CPA working three miles from here. Kurt is in a tin can with no air outside the door. If he was my husband, I'd be in rehab with them trying to resuscitate my liver."

Raising her glass, she saluted him and drank.

Blaine chuckled. He could feel the tension bleed out of him a little. This was why Barbara Jean was so good for him, she knew how to talk him off a ledge. He took another drink. The alcohol was spreading a pleasant warmth through him. He heaved a sigh. "I've been pretending like Kurt is still here like that would keep him close, but the joke is, I don't need a reminder of him; he's everywhere. I see him all around the house, I can practically hear his voice and you'd think that would make me happy but... it doesn't. And I don't know why."

When Blaine glanced over to Barbara Jean, he saw her laughing silently into her hand. "What?"

She snickered. "Haven't you figured this out about yourself? You're a people person, Blaine! You always gravitate toward people, even strangers on the street. Didn't you say you were in a singing _group_ in high school? You're surrounded by a pack of kids at work. You even have a partner to write music."

"I'm needy and codependent," Blaine filled in.

Barbara Jean snorted. "You thrive around other people. You get your energy from them and you give it back. As far as I'm concerned that makes you a good person. But it also means you don't do well on your own. When you're alone for too long, you don't know what to do with yourself."

Blaine sat stunned, absorbing that. How had he never realized that before? Meanwhile, Barbara Jean pried the top off the salted caramel ice cream container, stuck a spoon in it and held it out to Blaine who smiled gratefully.

*

Blaine woke with the mother of all hangovers so much so he did something he almost never did, he called in sick and then burrowed back under the covers. He woke again later that afternoon, swearing never to touch bourbon again. When he checked his phone, he saw a new email from Kurt. He frowned. He wasn't up to talking to Kurt right now so he set aside the phone and went to take a shower.

Over the next couple of weeks, Kurt's emails grew increasingly concerned and then angry, demanding to know why Blaine hadn't responded. He felt bad about it and he was avoiding Kurt trying to figure out what to tell him, even debating if he should tell him at all. Kurt didn't need any distractions while he was on the ISS. Blaine didn't want to be a source of worry especially since there wasn't anything Kurt could do about it anyway.

Thing was, though, he wasn't very good at lying to Kurt and putting off talking to him, Kurt now knew something was wrong and he was demanding a Skype call. Blaine sighed heavily and set up a time.

"*What* is going on?" were the first words out of Kurt's mouth as soon as his image appeared on the laptop screen. "Why have you been giving me the cold shoulder?"

"It's nothing," Blaine tried to soothe.

"Blaine!" Kurt snapped.

"It's nothing serious," Blaine tried again. "I didn't want to worry you."

"Well, good job on that!" When Blaine looked away, Kurt softened. "Please, tell me what's going on."

"A couple of weeks ago, I kind of had this freak out," Blaine began. "I was just going about my day when out of nowhere I had this realization. That this is what it would be like if you..." Blaine closed his eyes, he still couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. "Everyday, it's like you're here but not here. It's like I've been living with your ghost."

"And you're doing this now?" Kurt shook his head. "How many times have I asked you if you had a problem with me doing this and you said you were fine? And you pick now to have a problem! When I'm up here and can't do anything about it?"

"There isn't anything for you to do." Blaine could feel his frustration grow. "This isn't about you."

"Wow! What happen to 'we're in this together; what affects you, affects me'?"

"That isn't what I meant. I'm the one having the problem, and I'm the one who has to fix it. I know I said I was okay with you doing this and I thought I was. I didn't know I was going to feel this way. But I realized something, you weren't the ghost, I was. _I've_ been going through the days like I wasn't really there. I put everything on pause waiting for you to come back but I can't live my life like that."

"Blaine, I never wanted you to. This is what I was afraid of: everything revolving around my going to space and you being the one to make all the sacrifices and one day resenting it, resenting me."

"I don't, Kurt, but I need to figure out how to balance things when you're not here, how to live my life when you're gone for months at a time. So I've been going out more, having dinner with friends. And... this winter break, I want to go to Los Angeles. I know I spent most of our travel budget going to the Launch but I can use the frequent flyer mileage and stay with Cooper. Lil and I can finally be in the same room together to work out the songs we've been writing."

"I think that's an excellent idea. You should do it. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I guess I'm having a bit of a freak out of my own. You're the one who's made all the compromises so I can pursue what I wanted and I know that's not fair to you."

"That's not how I see it. I'm happy, I like our life. I love my job. I don't want to change any of it. But, you know me, I have this tendency to go overboard and I get so caught up, I don't always know when to stop."

"I know. I just feel bad. You were going through something and I wasn't there. You've always been there for me...."

"Don't, Kurt. It's okay, I called Barbara Jean. Remember, back in New York, we had to learn not to make the relationship be everything all the time. It put so much stress on us that it almost broke us. We both had to learn how to give each other space and to be able to turn to other people sometimes, like when you had Elliott. I don't think that's us going wrong, I think that's us going right."

Kurt gave a little smile. "Then we're okay?"

Blaine smiled back. "Yeah. Better than okay, we're the best!"

Blaine reached his hand out letting his fingers brush the laptop screen. Kurt returned the gesture and laughed. Two hundred and forty-nine miles apart and the touch of the fingers still made Kurt's heart skip a beat.


	4. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt returns home.

"So how was California?"

Blaine smiled up to the starry sky, brighter now that he was outside the city limits. He leaned back against the Mustang's windshield, ignoring the metal crumple sound of the car's hood, protesting Blaine's weight on top of it. The car had been an extravagance they agreed on. They had the sedan for everyday use, practical and sensible, but they also had the Mustang convertible, their fun car. A little reminder to not get stuck being an old, albeit fabulous, married couple, to shake things up and do something unexpected for just the fun of it.

Which was what Blaine did tonight. He drove out past the bright lights of Houston so he could see the stars in the night sky when Kurt called. He knew that technically the space station was not directly overhead, its orbit didn't pass over Texas, and even if it did, at 4.76 miles per second, it'd be there and gone in a blink of an eye. Blaine didn't care, looking up still made him feel connected to Kurt. Even in orbit, they were still underneath the same big sky.

Blaine lifted the bottle to his lips and drank the microbrew, another little indulgence and limited to just one since he had to drive back. Through the Bluetooth earpiece, Kurt's voice was so clear it was like he was right beside him.

"Sunny," Blaine answered. "It didn't feel like Christmas at all. I have news! Lil and I finished our song. And I think it's really good. I think it can make the charts."

"Blaine! That's wonderful!" Kurt's squealed, his voice going up in pitch with his excitement and that made Blaine do his scrunchy smile. "I want to hear it!"

"You can hear the full studio version in about a month." Blaine flipped the thin coin between his fingers. It was Kurt's gift to him. While the cosmonauts got their haircuts the ground crews moved the Soyuz rocket from the hangars to the launch pad. They had a tradition of their own, they laid coins on the railway tracks to be flattened by the monstrously large transport and kept as souvenirs. Kurt gave them a US quarter so Blaine would always have a keepsake from the rocket that took his husband to space.

"What?!"

Blaine laughed. "The song needed a big voice so I called Mercedes."

"Shut up!"

"She liked it and agreed to record it," Blaine revealed.

"Oh my God, that's fantastic!" Kurt gushed. "I haven't talked to 'Cedes since forever."

"She wants us to come out sometime after you get back." They fell into reminiscing about their school days. Kurt sounded happy but also tired.

"How are you doing?" Blaine asked.

There was a long pause before Kurt answered, "I miss you. I miss... I miss turning my head and you being right there. I miss your face. I miss gravity!" Kurt blurted so emphatically that Blaine laughed out loud. "I'm serious. Zero G was fun at first but I am so sick of bumping into everything. You're never still, it's like being on a raft on the ocean for four months. I'm sick of sleeping strapped to a wall. I want to lie down– I miss down!" Then Kurt's voice turned wistful. "I miss falling asleep with you."

"Ah babe, me too," Blaine hummed. "Just a dozen more days left to go."

"Will you do something for me?" Kurt asked plaintively.

"Always."

"Sing me to sleep."

"Close your eyes," Blaine smiled. " _Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight..._ "

Kurt snorted. "You big cheese ball."

*

"I'm so glad you warned me about the landing. Don't tell Kurt but that really had my heart going," Burt leaned over to Blaine. They, along with Carole, Pam and Cooper were out on NASA's Tarmac with all the other officials and a small gathering of news crews, waiting for NASA's private jet to land.

In Blaine's last phone call to Burt to give him Kurt's return date, he told Burt that if he watched the landing of the Soyuz capsule not to be alarmed; it looked worse than it was. When the enormous striped parachute was deployed, the white plumes of smoke from the capsule made it look like it was firing engines but it was, in reality, the venting of hydrogen peroxide. The capsule would float leisurely downward but then hit the ground in a terrifying cloud of dirt as if it was colliding at a deadly rate of speed. But that was misleading. The cloud was kicked up by the thrusters firing off in the last seconds to cushion the touchdown. Recovery vehicles would rendezvous with them and the crew would carry the cosmonauts out and place them into chairs until they adjusted back to earth's gravity.

Blaine didn't travel out to Baikonur this time. NASA sent its jet to collect the American astronauts and bring them home to reunite with their families. Blaine's excitement bubbled up when the jet appeared in the sky and only grew and grew until he could hardly stand still as the jet came in for the landing and took an interminable amount of time to taxi over and for the door to open and the steps let down. Then Kurt appeared.

Cameras flashed as Kurt smiled and waved but Blaine was already in motion. Kurt's smile widening was the only thing Blaine saw before being enveloped into his arms. Kurt was there, real and solid and warm and Blaine didn't want to let go. He could feel Kurt's body shake with laughter. He gave Blaine a tight squeeze before pulling back and Blaine reluctantly stepped aside so Burt could move in with a happy, "Hey!"

Burt gave Kurt one of his patent bear hugs with clapping on the back. Blaine moved away so the news cameras could get their pictures of the Congressman and his son. Carole and Pam put their arms around Blaine as they looked on with pride. Burt held out an arm to join them. Surrounded by all those he loved, Blaine radiated joy. His family was complete.

*

Blaine woke to an empty bed and that was just wrong. He sat up and looked for Kurt but he was alone in the darkened bedroom, not even a light under the bathroom door. He got up, not bothering to find clothes, Blaine pulled the duvet off the bed and drew it around himself.

Padding out to the living room, he saw the dark silhouette out on the balcony, the sliding door left open. Kurt was looking up to the night sky.

Quietly, Blaine came up behind him and wrapped his arms and blanket around him, hooking his chin over his shoulder. Kurt leaned back against him. "You miss it."

Kurt huffed out a breath. "I know I was just complaining about it but... yeah, I do. Silly."

"It's not silly," Blaine whispered. "It has your heart."

Kurt jerked his head toward Blaine. "Hey," and he turned in Blaine's arms. "There may be a part of me that will always want to go up there, but you, this—" Kurt slid his arms around Blaine. "—is home. And I will _always_ want to come home."

**Author's Note:**

> Story Prompt:
> 
> Astronaut Kurt
> 
> A fic following Blaine’s life on earth while his husband Kurt is part of the ISS crew.
> 
> Ideally, I’d like a scene before Kurt leaves and one after he gets back, where the two are together. But mostly I want Blaine on earth and Kurt in space. Just a fic following Blaine on earth and maybe Kurt in space, but that’s not even necessary.
> 
> Blaine goes about his life and misses Kurt and is very proud to tell people where his husband currently is.


End file.
